Herne Bay Sailing Club

Streamlining Pays Off

The final 2 races of the Summer Series were closely fought in challenging conditions with the wind gusting to force 5. The first race was particularly event-filled with numerous capsizes, pride of place going to Martin Poole who deserves a special mention for testing the skills of the newly-qualified safety boat crew by parking his Dart 15 with the mast firmly embedded in the mud. Following an epic duel between the Dart 18 of Mark Sanders and the Dart 15 of David Gwynne, David took the Fast Fleet honours (although it is rumoured that his streamlined hairstyle played no small part in his win!). In the slow fleet pride of place went to Peter Bowell in his Mirror, one of the few boats to finish without mishap. The race also saw the return to the water of Simon Child – welcome back Simon!

With the wind strengthening, a smaller Fast Fleet took part in the second race and another close contest took place between Mark Sanders and David Gwynne.  Mark chose to play the angles downwind with David opting instead for a dead run, but in the final outcome David triumphed once again.

Results:
Summer Series Race 7
Fast Fleet: 1st David Gwynne; 2nd Mark and Elizabeth Sanders; 3rd Claire and Peter Gibson
Slow Fleet: 1st Peter Bowell; 2nd John Ormiston

Summer Series Race 8
Fast Fleet: 1st David Gwynne; 2nd Mark and Elizabeth Sanders; 3rd Chris Brealy and G Damenez
Slow Fleet:  No entries